Last thing I remember of the hotel that night was slicing my finger open trying to open a bottle of coke, and laughing my ass off watching Shooting Stars.
We woke up nice and early, showered, put on the obligatory Prodigy tshirt (Brixton Academy one in my case, again!) and went down for a huge fry up that was included in the price of the room.
Carb my bitch up.
Got a cab about 08:00, stopped off at an off licence for a few cans to have in (what we assumed would be a very long) queue that would last a few hours.
When we arrived we made our way to Gate 4 and saw about 200 people in front of us. Most disturbingly right at the front were a load of Enter Shitkari fans who had been there all night. I admire their resolve, if not their music taste at least. We had been there about 30 mins before a guy at the front called over the girl I was with. It turned out he recognised us as we had been waiting with him outside the Southend gig in January to meet the boys, as well as chatting to Leeroy who was outside chatting and having a fag with us. Thanks to Richard (Dickyprod) we were seconds later at the front of the queue. While we were waiting Keith was poking his head through a gap in the partition and chatting to people, sorting some of the Enter Shitkari kids with free tickets (oh the inhumanity) and popping back a bit later with cans of drink for people.
Maxim was also present a bit later on, signing shit and chatting to the fans in the queue.
While in the queue we got chatting to a couple of guys from Amsterdam, one a Prodigy virgin and the other a proper hardcore boy, no stranger to the Brainkiller forum and trying to lure me over there rather than be on here
A mate of mine from back home who had left it until the last minute called to say he was on his way up and should arrive at MK train station by about 10:30, from where he would get a cab to the bowl and try and score a ticket for the gig. In that time the guys with the front pit wristbands were doing the rounds, so luckily Michaela (the girl I was with) managed to get 2 wristbands by being sneaky. One of these was carefully unpeeled and given to my mate who finally arrived just after 11AM.
The gates opened early, not sure of the time, maybe 12:30ish, and with that we all made a dash for the main stage and managed to stake a claim right at the front on the barrier.
I left the barrier once, about 1:30 to go and have a little wander and get rid of the beer that I had drunk in the queue.
After that, I returned to the front and didn't move until the gig was over.
Anyway, time to talk about the acts I guess.
The DJ who was playing at first was pretty good I must say, some nice tunes and at a nice volume to just chill and chat to our new friends while waiting for the first act.
Does It Offend You Yeah
Not overly offensive, but certainly not my kinda music. I didn't hate it, but I wasn't exactly dissapointed when they left the stage.
Eddy Temple Morris
Again, some nice tunes and not too loud, so a great time to lean with the back against the barrier and chatting to people, including Gary who I met up with for the first time when we went to the Docken gig in Copenhagen back in November last year.
Chase & Status
What a blinding set from these guys. Went nuts when they dropped Eastern Jam and I'm liking the sound of a lot of their new stuff. The female singer they got on was good, not just for the fact that she had a truely impressive pair of lungs on her
and knew how to bounce. I loved the crowd all chanting "tits out" before she had even picked up the mic!Best support of the day in my opinion, really got the crowd going where I was.
Eddy Temple Morris
As before.
Enter Shikari
Absolute wank. As bad as I had predicted. Loads of crowd surfers who all appeared to be about 15 and very middle-class looking (not that that is a bad thing, just an observation).
Enter Shitkari on the other hand I observed to be a very bad thing. Bad, bad, BAD.
Zane Lowe
Last time I saw him was at Brixton in December 2008 for the over 18's Prodigy Invaders Academy Tour gig. The guy doesn't disappoint, great mixing, great tunes, great presence and his obvious heartfelt adoration for the Prodigy is always so great to see. Nice to know that even famous Radio 1 DJs can have hero worship like the rest of us. It was great that he would drop little hints and intros of Prodigy tracks, but not actually play them, teasing the crowd masterfully. Awesome stuff. Hilarious when he said that without the Prodigy bands like Pendulum would never have existed. Don't know if they liked that too much.
Pendulum
Didn't expect it to be fantastic, and it wasn't. It wasn't terrible either. If I hadn't been a D&B fan most of my life then I would have perhaps enjoyed it more, but to me most of it sounded like cheesy pop music with a weak D&B beat to it.
Zane Lowe
As before, but he was even more excitable for his second set, for obvious reasons.
The Prodigy
Intro - Fantastic as always
World's On Fire - Bangin' as always, but was hoping for a new intro track. maybe next time
Breathe - Not my fave track, but I still had a good time to this
Colours - Don't like this on the album, instrumental is OK, but this new live mix is great. Loved it
Poison - Never fails to disappoint. Great crowd reaction to this one
Thunda Dub - Finally got to hear it live and it was worth the wait. Wish it had been the album version, but still sweet as a nut
Warrior's Dance - Always great, good crowd reaction to this one
Firestarter - Even though it is one of my least favourite tracks, for a plethora of reasons, I still gave it good and Keith was on top form for this
Run With The Wolves - Went mental to this with Richard, even though it isn't on my list of top tracks. Instrumental is pretty good though
Weather Experience - "JESUS TITTY-FUCKING CHRIST!!!!" As soon as I heard 2 words of Micheal Fish I was going skitz. Never thought I would hear this live. The lazers! Highlight of the day for me
Voodoo People - Destroyed the place as it always does
Minefields (sic) - Great to hear this track again, haven't heard it live since Reading '98
Omen Reprise - Always good to see Liam having fun with this
Invaders Must Die - Not a favourite, but a great crowd-mover
Diesel Power - Great that they have put this gem back on heavy rotation. Blows my mind drastically
Smack My Bitch Up - A crowd favourite and one of mine too. Love when Maxim gets the crowd to crouch down
Take Me To The Hospital - One of my faves and always so bangin' live. Hence why there are no videos of it taken my me this time
Everybody in The Place - I thought they might drop this. Great rework, but need to hear it with less bass to really appreciate the changes that have been made I think
No Good - Great to hear this again, one of my all time faves and last heard at Brixton April 2009
Charly - Not on the setlist for some reason. Soooooo good to hear this rework, but same feelings as for EITP
Their Law - The Prodigy live anthem in my opinion. You can't beat the law
Out Of Space - Classic, great sing-a-long to end on, but has been for a lot of gigs in a row now
What a great day. Here are the videos I took, some are short, but I was too busy enjoying myself to worry about videos too much:
